A CONVERSATION WITH BRIAN ENO -
INTERNATIONAL ART ROCK ARTIST FOR THE 90S

by Tim Cain

TC:
Why have you chosen at this point in your career to go out on a tour and be as
accessible as you are?

ENO:
Im not that inaccessible most of the time, you know, Im just
working most of the time. But I dont go out of my way to be inaccessible.
And I like talking, and I dont like touring, so this is my solution to
that.

TC: Well
it seems to be going very well. You sold out Park West (in Chicago) with your
conversations and lecture.

ENO:
Theyve been very successful, yes. I think people are always surprised
that it can be funny and interesting at the same time. These things tend to be
fairly humorous, but at the same time I talk about the things that interest me
the most.

TC: Are
you surprised that those things that interest you most interest other people,
as well?

ENO: Yes.
(laughs) I was surprised when I first did it. I think its really
fascinating that there are a lot of people who presumably arent active as
composers or artists who are quite interested in the philosophical nuts and
bolts of being an artist or composer.

TC: Could
you be more specific about the treatments and tape credits youve received
on your records?

ENO: You
mean, as to what it means?

TC:
Yeah.

ENO: I
suppose what I do is, I landscape sound. Thats what it means, really. One
of the things I think has happened in the last thirty or forty years is that
composers have been able to think about sound more than they ever could before
because of electronics and synthesizers and processing of various kinds, and
Ive sort of specialized in that. So, I think theres sort of a new
language in music which is to do with sounds. Its not to do with
harmonies, pitch, melodies, rhythms- that kind of thing. Its on top of
all those, theres this new area which, umm, I would call soundscaping, if
you like. So, treatments really are doing that to music. Starting to think
about the texture of sound and the character of sound and what that means. So,
thats what I do.

TC: How
did you come up with the notion of doing that?

ENO:
Couldnt do anything else. (laughs heartily)

TC: Tell
me about the pop album, (Wrong Way Up). Why did you do a pop album at this
stage in your career? I had read sometime in the last year that you were mainly
interested in doing your video installations and things of that nature, and
that you werent interested in doing another rock album. Is that the
case?

ENO: That
was the case.

TC: And so
what happened?

ENO: Well,
I changed my mind. (laughing)... If I feel like doing one thing Ill do it
and when I feel like doing something else, I do that. Its pretty
impulsive, really - what they describe as "a whim of iron".

TC: I
think this new record is overall one of the happiest records Ive heard
you put out.

ENO: See,
I do too. I am quite happy at this moment, actually. A lot of things have come
together in the last year, and I had a little girl this year, in January,
whom... Im very delighted by. So, I just thought Ill give myself
the license of being whatever I want to. Being flippant or serious, or both
together, as actually I do in the lectures, a lot. So, this record, in fact,
came out a lot more friendly and optimistic than either of us (John Cale and
Eno) expected it to. We both started out thinking it would be quite stark and
sort of, industrial... perhaps slightly "Eraserhead" in feeling. (laughs) And
it didnt come out that way at all. I didnt stop it, see, from
becoming what it wants to be.

TC: Tell
me how you got into this project with John Cale.

ENO: Well
Ive known him for quite a long time and Ive worked with him in a
sort of less collaborative way - not doing whole records together. I worked on
his record, "Fear" in 1974, then I worked on three other (of his); he worked on
two albums of mine. So, weve sort of, kept in touch. Then last year we
did a record of orchestral pieces of his called "Works For The Dying", that was
a suite of pieces, settings of Dylan Thomas songs, beautiful settings, I
think. We recorded it in Moscow, and we were a few minutes short of a full
length album. So, we decided to try to write something to fill that space and
we came up with a really beautiful, strange, little song called, "Carmen
Miranda". I was very thrilled by how easily that came about, and how it was
really different from anything either one of us would have come up with
separately. So earlier this year I said to John, why dont we see if if we
can make a record together, see what happens. He agreed and we went ahead. It
was fairly rapidly done, actually.

TC: I
couldnt believe how quickly you recorded this.

ENO: I am
more and more convinced that there is a lot to be said for fast recording.
Its like cooking - if you see a good chef at work, they dont keep
food in the pan any longer than they have to. They just do it really quickly
and it is in the plate suddenly. And it tastes fresh and crunchy and full of
flavor, and thats sort of what I wanted on this record.